Posada spent his entire 17 big league career with the Yankees after being drafted by the club in the 24th round of the 1990 draft. The catcher hit .273/.374/.474 for his career with 275 home runs. In total, Posada earned five All-Star nominations, including his resurgent 2007 campaign. That year, Posada hit .338/.426/.543 with 20 home runs and finished sixth in the voting for AL MVP.

According to Baseball Reference, Posada earned more than $117MM lifetime from the Yankees. The catcher re-upped with the Bombers prior to the 2008 season with a four-year, $52.4MM deal.

Two weeks ago, the catcher's father said that Posada was receiving interest from the Rays, Phillies, and Orioles. It's unclear how strong the interest was from those clubs as he didn't seem to be a clear fit for any of them. The O's were said to be after someone who could catch everyday if neccessary and the 40-year-old Posada likely couldn't provide that.

Not a Yankee fan but a baseball fan and he was a great Yankee, numbers alone wont get him in the hall but the 5 Rings just might. Its a rare thing to have a player play a whole career with one team and i am sure they loved him all the more for it.

The Yankees are one of the rare organizations that can possibly afford to keep their players together for an entire career. People can say what they want about the Yankees, but they pipelined some major talent out of that farm system in the 1990s. Sure, they spent money that only they could afford to spend….but the greatest parts of those teams were built from the system. I got tired of their domination, but it was interesting for a few years…after they’d been fairly lousy since the early 80’s. Those early teams with Wetteland, Brosious, Williams, O’Neill..etc were exciting. To me something changed once they started really pouncing the FA market with Giambi and Rodriguez.

My bad, you’re right…but it seemed to change the complexion of the team and the team chemistry. Scott Brosious certainly wasn’t A-Rod….but the Yanks seemed to have a deeper soul when he and Paul O’Neill were on the team.

I agree about time I hate that little winey excuse for a catcher oh but wait I hate all Yankees couldnt even stand Reggie even after he made the wisest choice in his career becoming an Angel still hated him cause he was a Yankee

Why don’t you concentrate on the teams in your own division? Not a team that has beaten you ONCE in the playoffs in the last two decades. Not to mention, the Angels have the greatest record against the Yankees in the last fifteen years. Hater in the house…

Big fan of Sado, he got a lot of flack last year and I’m glad he was able to show off a bit in the post-season even if it was brief. I’m glad he will retire a life long Yankee and look forward to seeing him one day at Old-Timers’ Day. Congrats on a great career!

He had a very good career. There’s no taking that away from him. But a borderline HOF career? I don’t really see any stats to back that up. Of the core four, Jeter and Rivera are HOF’s, but Pettitte and Posada are not.

Agreed. 275 HR 273 AVG under 1000 Runs are NOT Hall of fame material. This is like me saying Torii Hunter is a HoFer right now he has better stats in nearly every category but he is obviously not in yet.

Congrats on a great career Jorge. I do not believe you are a Hall of Fame catcher, but you are without a doubt a Hall of Fame Yankee. There have been very few players in MLB the last 15 years that have been as fiery and passionate as you about the game and about winning. Enjoy retirement, you earned it. Congratulations

He had a hell of a career, probably a little short of the hall of fame but a great player. I was never a Yankees fan but it was hard to follow baseball as a kid in the late 90s/early 200s and not be a fan of Jorge.

I thought highly of him up until he cried like a little league player about hitting 9th. In hindsight he was 5 months away from retirement and he should have been happy with the fact that he was on a major league roster. (And by the way making about 12 million to boot!) You can take your me first attitude to your couch and watch next year Georgie!

I’m not saying Jorge was right to complain but try to think about how difficult it is to be great at something your entire life, to have succeeded for years, to have it as your only profession, and to love doing it then seeing it all coming to an end because, just like everyone else, you’re getting old and can’t play like you used to no matter how hard you try.

I don’t think you should feel sorry for him, heck he’s made over a hundred million dollars, but I can see why he’d complain as his career was coming to an end just because of how frustrating it is for aging players to see their skills disappear.

I thought highly of him up until he cried like a little league player about hitting 9th. In hindsight he was 5 months away from retirement and he should have been happy with the fact that he was on a major league roster. (And by the way making about 12 million to boot!) You can take your me first attitude to your couch and watch next year Georgie!

It’s hard to know when to go, and he stayed a little too long. But there haven’t been too many catchers with his level of productivity-particularly often playing in high-stress situations. Maybe not Hall of Fame, but a pretty darn good career. If we had perfect foresight, would any of us sneer at a prospect like Posada?

Respect out to Jorge. Solid career. I saw him go 2-2 with 2B and 2RBI at this game – link to baseball-reference.com -, in which 8 runs were scored in both the top and bottom of the 2nd inning. Looking up to the electronic banner from RF seeing “Hip Hip Jorge!” and people going nuts, a memory I won’t soon forget.

Respect out to Jorge. Solid career. I saw him go 2-2 with 2B and 2RBI at this game – link to baseball-reference.com -, in which 8 runs were scored in both the top and bottom of the 2nd inning. Looking up to the electronic banner from RF seeing “Hip Hip Jorge!” and people going nuts, a memory I won’t soon forget.

The only reason hes retiring is because no one was offering him a job. He would have had no problem playing for another team. That being said, the man was one of the best offensive catchers baseball all time. Thanks for the last 15 years Posada, its been great.

“The only reason he’s retiring is because the Yankees were not offering him a job and no other team was interested. That being said,
the man was one of the best offensive catchers baseball all time. Thanks
for the last 15 years Posada, its been great.”

fine, your right, maybe a platoon role, but I dont think his ego could of taken another hit from last year. What is 2 mil going to do for him? Either no one was offering him any, or he was too proud to accept a job backing up for someone.

Not a Hall of Famer (if you’re looking for a future HoF catcher, you might want to go the borough across the Whitestone), but had a fantastic career and will probably be in monument park (if they still have that) one day.

Thanks to Posada, Piazza, and Hundley from 1996 to 2007, at least one catcher in New York had at least twenty home runs. How many cities can say that?

I dont think he’s a HOFer but to say he Isn’t a Borderline HOFer is ridiculous. He’s 15th all time in WAR for C. Currently there are 13 C in the HOF which obviously is not including Pudge and Piazza who are ahead of him in WAR. Not all of the C ahead of him in WAR though are in such as Joe Torre who had a WAR above 70 and was very close to Yogi Berra in WAR.

As a Philly sports enthusiast, felt the need to bust your balls a little. I currently live/work in the NYC area and went to college with enough North Jersey/New York kids to know how you guys work. You root for the one team, but the other one is on the backburner. Never had to make that choice so hard for me to criticize.

I often pose the hypothetical to my friends who we’d root for if both the A’s and Phillies were still in Philadelphia. One team would probably play in South Philly at the Complex, while the other would’ve probably settled in South Jersey. My Dad was 5 when the A’s skipped town so he’s always been a Phillies fan.

Of course, Posada is a borderline HOF. He was a truly great offensive catcher and good enough defensively to stay behind the dish for 15+ seasons. I think Ted Simmons is probably the best catcher who is not in the hall of fame. Posada is at least close to Simmons and actually beats him in OPS+ 121-117. Simmons was around for longer and thus has better counting stats. Posada, if he does make the hall of fame, would be far from the worst catcher in the hall. I’m not a Yankee fan
but he was one of my favorite players to watch of all time. Have a good retirement Mr. Posada.

That’s such an odd question. What about him screams steroids? It’s not like he had a sudden jump from being a 5 hr guy to a 35 hr guy and the 1 exceptional year he had late in his 30’s quickly came crashing back to earth and was during the testing era.

That’s like asking how come no one is vilifying Ichiro? Sort of random.

Excellent. This is the defensive response I was hoping for. So if the benchmark is a sudden and inexplicable jump in homerun numbers, can we agree that nothing about Bagwell and Piazza screams steroids either?

This is also the first time that I’ve ever heard a single exceptional year followed by a quick crash back to earth used as an argument AGAINST steroid use.

That’s such an odd question. What about him screams steroids? It’s not like he had a sudden jump from being a 5 hr guy to a 35 hr guy and the 1 exceptional year he had late in his 30’s quickly came crashing back to earth and was during the testing era.

That’s like asking how come no one is vilifying Ichiro? Sort of random.

It’s got to be tough for older players who have had great careers being pushed out by younger players at the end of their careers. Tom Glavine had the same problem after he was brought back by the Braves and his rotation spot was given to Tommy Hanson, he even filed a grievance with the players union.

Don’t think he gets in….his numbers when normalized for his era
aren’t good enough against other catchers, and his defense was below
average. Example? Look at Bill Freehan…played in the opposite situation,
his entire career in the most hitting depressed time
(1962-1976)…normalize up his stats and they are about identical to
Posada…except he was an incredible defensive catcher (5 GG) and went to
11 straight AS games, 3 top 7 MVP voting results…and he barely got 20%
of the vote in any year on the HOF ballot. Ted Simmons is a better comp
for Posada, and has better stats and similar defense than Posada while
straddling the two extreme hitting eras of Posada and Freehan

Oh! I didn’t realize that Posada was on the same level as Piazza, Fisk and Carter! Also, Posada batted over .290 once, while Piazza’s career avg. is .308. Posada is only getting attention because he was on the Yankees. Put him on the Dodgers and Mets (in place of Piazza), he’s just another catcher. WAR is abused these days.

Championships shouldn’t help or hurt a player’s chances because it’s a team game. Hitting 275 is a very good career, but not a HOF player. If Posada gets in, the HOF will become a complete joke. He does not belong there.

Just because someone was a good player on a dynastic team doesn’t make them a Hall of Famer. It’s a team game.

Why are only members of the Yankees dynasty brought up for the HoF? No one ever vouches for Bert Campeneris or Sal Bando, no one ever pulls for George Foster, and I’ve never heard anyone make a case for Bob Welch.

i’m not sure i said athat, i’m also not sure i should argue with someone that values average. Especially since posada had a better career average than carter who you mentioned for some reason and had a better career ops than him. Put posada on a differrent team he probably debut earlier and might have a even better career. Players dont get more value for being yankees.

9th in hrs all-time
10th in slugging
9th in OBP
7th in OPS
14th in RBI

Considering we’re talking about all the C in the last 100 + years, to rank top 10 in some key categories means a lot especially in a very, very difficult position where offense is tough to come bye.

His defense lowers his overall WAR value but Fangraphs batting value has him as the 12th best all-time.

Never said he was a sure thing but certainly borderline and should get serious consideration. Add to it the “Yankee lore” and the WS rings I think that at some point the writers will fall for the romance of seeing Posada join Jeter and Mo in the Hall.

Pettite probably won’t make it because of the PDE’s despite being a top 3 lefty over the last 30 years and having almost identical or better numbers (WAR, FIP and xFIP) compared to Tom Glavine who will be a shoe in with his 300 + wins.

Bernie WIlliams was as bad defensively in CF as Posada was at C but considering the historically great CF’s there’s no way he’s getting in.

Still, it’s been a pleasure to watch those 5 guys together for so long. Such a perfect example of building a team built for longevity with some nice acquisitions to complement them. Hopefully, Cashman can continue to build from within and complement the core with signings and trades. Thus far, we don’t seem to have any comparable to those 5 yet.

“Why are only members of the Yankees dynasty brought up for the HoF?”
Not even sure how to answer this. Just because the Mets don’t have any HOF players (lifers) doesn’t mean the hall is saturated with just Yankees. Those players are good but none of them are HOF worthy.

I mean can you make an argument for any of those 3 to be top 10 offensively or defensively at their perspective positions? No. Even Campaneris who was a great glove wouldn’t rank top 20 defensively and was nothing with the bat. Poor comparison.
As for Welch, 211 W (which is a poor tool to use but weighs heavily among HOF voters) isn’t that impressive for a righty (in historical context).

WAR just means Kirby had weaker competition than Bernie. Bernie’s lifetime OBP was 20 points higher. Plus, Bernie was a gentleman compared to the raving lunatic sex-fiend-wife-beater Kirby. So, no need to boycott Baseball if he eventually gets in the same place Ron Santo and Bill Mazeroski got in by being nice guys.

Wow….I absolutely agree that Puckett (one of my favorite players) was a better overall player than Bernie, but using the amount of GG, All-Star appearance and Bat avg aren’t the best tools to use to state your argument.

To his credit though, Williams had a better lifetime OBP, wOBA, OPS, ISO and drew twice as many walks (11% vs 5%).

Still the main reason why Puckett has more WAR than Williams has all to do with horrible career UZR (-152 vs Puckett’s -15) than it does their offense. Williams trumps Kirby in Bat Value (335 vs 241). Williams obviously played more games than Kirby but he also had more year w/ a BatValue above 40 (3) than Kirby (1).

Interesting though, there’s no reason to think Bernie ever used steroids and if you look at his career for a decade (1991-2000) he’s top 10 across the board among OF’ers and it becomes even more impressive if he did it clean. But still, not HOF’esque.

Wow….I absolutely agree that Puckett (one of my favorite players) was a better overall player than Bernie, but using the amount of GG, All-Star appearance and Bat avg aren’t the best tools to use to state your argument.

To his credit though, Williams had a better lifetime OBP, wOBA, OPS, ISO and drew twice as many walks (11% vs 5%).

Still the main reason why Puckett has more WAR than Williams has all to do with horrible career UZR (-152 vs Puckett’s -15) than it does their offense. Williams trumps Kirby in Bat Value (335 vs 241). Williams obviously played more games than Kirby but he also had more year w/ a BatValue above 40 (3) than Kirby (1).

Interesting though, there’s no reason to think Bernie ever used steroids and if you look at his career for a decade (1991-2000) he’s top 10 across the board among OF’ers and it becomes even more impressive if he did it clean. But still, not HOF’esque.

So you want to penalize Kirby for issues that happened after his playing career. Never mind the fact he was one of the more popular players, and one of the fan friendly players DURING his playing career.

And like I have said, these issues happened AFTER his playing career. So for all you know, Bernie could end up driving drunk and killing someone like another former Yankee.

About character, you do realize that Kirby was well known for charity work. I mean if he was such a horrible person then why did he win the Branch Rickey Award and the Roberto Clemente award? Both awarded to players of high character that get involved in their community.

But if you are trying to use Ron Santo as an argument you are really reaching. But then again look at the lines that you provided yourself. You only provide one stat as to why Bernie is better. But if you look at everything else, and remember that Kirby, unlike Bernie, was considered one of the best in the league during his career, and consider that Kirby’s career was shorter than Bernie’s because of injury and the like. Then yes, Kirby is way more deserving than Bernie.

Mattingly and Pucketts (I know he is in but he should not be) careers were too short and I am a guy that values peak years. Posada and Santo played C and 3B, so those offensive numbers are much more impressive. Yes, I know Posada was not a good defensive catcher, but his offense is light years above most catchers. I also hate the Yankees, so this is not homer speak. Bernie is just short as his defense is bad and there are a lot of good center fielders.

What?! That’s completely wrong. Look at Nick Swisher. All he could do was hit home runs, until he came to the Yankees. Granderson hits FOURY-ONE home runs, where he could never do such a thing with the Tigers.

If anything, you can say the Yankees have a positive effect on hitters because of Kevin Long and the general approach that the Yankee hitters have. OR, you can also say that the Yanks attempt to ACQUIRE hitters that fit their offensive charachter. Grandy has always been a 10% walk guy for most of his career.

Personally, I don’t think Posada is Hall of Fame material. He may have some top 10 numbers offensively for catchers. But throughout the history of the game, catcher has been a defensive position. There really haven’t been any offensive powerhouses from behind the plate. Posada’s defense is not good, and his bat is solid, but not spectacular. He was an excellent player and a key part of multiple championships, but I think he’s more of a member of the “Hall of Very Good.”

I never said the Hall is saturated with Yankees, there are as many undeserving Yankees in the Hall as there are other for other teams (but thanks for making a straw-man).

People constantly bring up names like Posada, Pettitte and Williams because they helped the Yankees to championships, that is why I brought up the names I did.

If you look at Bando’s career numbers, they roughly compare to recent inductee Ron Santo’s. George Foster was said to be one of the greatest players of all time during his playing days and was an MVP. A major cog in the Big Red Machine whose career tailed off early.

Campeneris was a slick fielding short stop who has 600+ stolen bases for his career.

Posada was a good hitting catcher, and his offensive stats are compared to Gary Carter, but when you factor in defense, which was what Carter’s calling card really is, there isn’t even a modicum of doubt that Posada isn’t a hall of famer.

I never said the Hall is saturated with Yankees, there are as many undeserving Yankees in the Hall as there are other for other teams (but thanks for making a straw-man).

People constantly bring up names like Posada, Pettitte and Williams because they helped the Yankees to championships, that is why I brought up the names I did.

If you look at Bando’s career numbers, they roughly compare to recent inductee Ron Santo’s. George Foster was said to be one of the greatest players of all time during his playing days and was an MVP. A major cog in the Big Red Machine whose career tailed off early.

Campeneris was a slick fielding short stop who has 600+ stolen bases for his career.

Posada was a good hitting catcher, and his offensive stats are compared to Gary Carter, but when you factor in defense, which was what Carter’s calling card really is, there isn’t even a modicum of doubt that Posada isn’t a hall of famer.

I never said the Hall is saturated with Yankees, there are as many undeserving Yankees in the Hall as there are other for other teams (but thanks for making a straw-man).

People constantly bring up names like Posada, Pettitte and Williams because they helped the Yankees to championships, that is why I brought up the names I did.

If you look at Bando’s career numbers, they roughly compare to recent inductee Ron Santo’s. George Foster was said to be one of the greatest players of all time during his playing days and was an MVP. A major cog in the Big Red Machine whose career tailed off early.

Campeneris was a slick fielding short stop who has 600+ stolen bases for his career.

Posada was a good hitting catcher, and his offensive stats are compared to Gary Carter, but when you factor in defense, which was what Carter’s calling card really is, there isn’t even a modicum of doubt that Posada isn’t a hall of famer.

Ok you lost me. NOT SAYING MATTINGLY DESERVES TO BE IN THE HOF. BUT….they are a great comparison. They both started/ended about the same time. They both played about the same amount of games (1,771 vs 1,781) and they both had their careers cut short to injury (although Mattingly’s injuries were more chronic and watered down his performance for a more prolonged period whereas Kirby’s was sudden and abrupt).

Kirby is +11 in Bat
Kirby is +2 in OBP
Mattingly is + 15 in hrs
Kirby is +4 in wOBA
Kirby is +7 in OPS

Those are not “easily across the board”. They are almost exactly the same when you look at it.

As for defense, Mattingly, according to UZR was a much better defensive player with a +32 UZR vs Puckett’s -15 UZR.

Ok you lost me. NOT SAYING MATTINGLY DESERVES TO BE IN THE HOF. BUT….they are a great comparison. They both started/ended about the same time. They both played about the same amount of games (1,771 vs 1,781) and they both had their careers cut short to injury (although Mattingly’s injuries were more chronic and watered down his performance for a more prolonged period whereas Kirby’s was sudden and abrupt).

Kirby is +11 in Bat
Kirby is +2 in OBP
Mattingly is + 15 in hrs
Kirby is +4 in wOBA
Kirby is +7 in OPS

Those are not “easily across the board”. They are almost exactly the same when you look at it.

As for defense, Mattingly, according to UZR was a much better defensive player with a +32 UZR vs Puckett’s -15 UZR.

I argue with stats and facts you just say stuff like that the tigers have a better pen, and that the Boesch is better than Swisher, so i could see why you dislike my comments. To say that posada isnt a borderline hofer shows us all how much you truly know

Please feel free to show me where I stated on this thread anything about the Tigers and comparing them to the Yankees. Try again.

And they deleted my comment that had stats, but I’ll give you the jist of it. He had less than 300 homeruns, a career average of less than .275, much less than 2,000 hits, and was below average on defense. When you narrow it down to averages over the number of years they played, he is not all that better than Bengie Molina. If he played his career with the Royals, this wouldn’t even be a debate. It shouldn’t be the Hall of Very Good. He had a fantastic career, but he was not one of the games all time greats.

Why would it have to be in this thread? these are statements you said in the past in doesnt matter in what thread you placed them. And now you are saying his career resembles molina and are using counting stats, so i guess i can now use a current example to show your trollish behavior. Bengie molina isnt even close to posada his ops is over 100 points less, his Woba is .066 points less and doesnt even have better counting stats.

His obp is ,070 points higher than bengie’s with a lot more at bats. There is absolutly no connection between the two players and yes he would still be a borderline hofer if he was a royal.

Perhaps you can find one post ofmine that showed any bias what so ever like i’ve already done with your history

I said in the past that the Yankees are better than the Tigers. Yet you make it sound like I made the Tigers out to be the greatest team out there. If you think I am a troll, then you are very naive to what a troll is.

I used stats, as did you. Mine got deleted because disqus got messed up and blocked me for a little while. It wiped out a couple comments with it.

And I never said that Posada wasn’t a borderline HOF, I said that he is not a Hall of Famer. The idea can be thrown around, but if he ever actually gets in as a player, the HOF will lose a lot of creditibility.

And it’s no secret that a fan will have a bias towards his team. You argued against me that Nakajima could be a star someday. If that’s not a bias, I don’t know what is. You’re not as perfect as you think.